Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

3/10

Starring

Liam Hemsworth

Jeff Goldblum

Jessie T. Usher

Bill Pullman

Directed by Roland Emmerich

One of the problems with making sequels is they will always be compared to the first (Independence Day (1996)). People will be picking holes on how it was done and how that is not compared to how it was done in the first. To make the comparison deadlier, the farther apart the sequels are released the deadlier the attacks will be, especially if the first was a hit.

I guess that is just how it is and I do not wish to change things.

So, the first movie was far better than this one for reasons easy to pick out, first the characterization or the characters in the first movie spanned through different works of life and across different behaviors. In fact, there was never a moment in the first movie that you will be dull or wish they gave more screen time to one character or the other. While watching this new one, I noticed they decided to skip everything about making the characters loveable and focus on the action. There is no build on any character, the reason being there were just too many people involved in this movie there was no time for me to get drawn into the life of any one of them.

Then there is the normal basic story the first film gave. Aliens shows up, we have no idea why they are here or what they want, until they started blowing up buildings leading to a massive death toll. The humans join up together and take down the aliens. So they decided to make things a little more complicated, there are the bad aliens wanting to kill us and one wanting to help us kill them.

Yes! People they are more civilizations (aliens) out there.

With all of this happening and the huge amount of characters on screen, it was impossible to believe the world was coming to an end.

Now the huge plus side in the movie is the visual masterpiece it delivers which is in par with the one I saw way back in 1996 when I first saw the first Independence Day.

The movie plot is Twenty years after the events of the first film and the human race has developed using the technologies they savaged from the alien race that attacked earth. The human race has even developed a space fighting air force, I guess they were preparing for any such attack again.

Well, the aliens came back and this time we were ready for them (even though the characters in the movie didn’t know that).

I have seen better sequels and this is a waste of your money.

Some characters from the first film were also present here, Will Smith wasn’t only a wallpaper of his can be seen in this film.

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

4/10

Starring

Johnny Depp

Anne Hathaway

Mia Wasikowska

Matt Lucas

Directed by James Bobin

Disney has had a wonderful 2016 with hits like, Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Zootopia and most recently Finding Dory.

Although this movie came out before Finding Dory, I took this long to see it because the pull that led me to see the first part of this sequel Alice in Wonderland (2010) has died over the years.

This then begs the question, “how long should sequels be apart?”

For me this movie was already on its way down before it started, who remembers Once Upon a Time in Wonderland in 2014, which was a spinoff of ABC (a Disney owned company) Once Upon a Time. The series failed to pick up steam and was dropped after just one season.

That was a sign that the 2010 movie was a fluke because even the 1951 Disney animation Alice in Wonderland was not well received critically and commercially upon its time of release.

Making this movie could appear as a great business decision, but they forget that they have wondered far from the original story in the first, that the possibility of this movie being anyway near Lewis Carroll 1871 book Through the Looking Glass was a fantasy in itself. Meaning when I saw the preview and read the reviews, I was already turned off from seeing this movie.

In the first film, everything was rewritten to make the Mad Hatter (Jonny Depp) the lead, here the same thing is done. Now if you have read the book, don’t bother looking for similarities between the book and the movie, there isn’t any.

If you recall the poem "Jabberwocky" which can only be read by viewing it in the mirror, it is not in this movie. The first book was set in a world of playing cards and the second in a chess like world, not so in this movie either.

In the first film, you will totally appreciate Tim Burton’s style of the visual concept, awesome lighting and the whole depiction of wonderland which can give you a visual orgasm, same here too.

And this movie has a posthumous performance from the late, great, Alan Rickman, who voiced Absolem, the Caterpillar.

Now the plot in this movie is as follows, a very irresponsible Alice carelessly steals the Chronospherewhich is the heart beat of time itself. She travels through time in the attempt of trying to save the Mad Hatter.

The Mad Hatter was dying because he found out his family was still alive and not killed by the Jabberwocky.

So we go on an adventure through time, trying to save the Mad Hatter from dying of sadness.

In the end I wished Disney didn’t venture down this path, the movie is boring.

Finding Dory (2016)

Finding Dory

8/10

Starring the voice of

Ellen DeGeneres

Albert Brooks

Hayden Rolence

Ed O'Neill

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Right from start when I heard that Andrew Stanton will be back to direct and write this sequel to one of the best animation I have ever seen (Finding Nemo (2003)), I was hooked, and impatiently waiting to see this movie.

Finding Dory is the long awaited follow up to Disney/Pixar 2003 computer animated comedy adventure, Finding Nemo. At the time of Finding Nemo’s release it was number 1 in the highest grossing animation of all time.

The magic of Finding Nemo can be found in memorable characters that make up the adventure of a fish searching the whole ocean for his son. Each character from the movie had a specific view and twist from being normal, this made the lead characters Marlin, Dory and Nemo fit in perfectly as we are taking on a wonderful journey under the sea.

So, from the get go, Disney had the characters with a perfect foundation for this sequel. Now the focus in this sequel is on Dory as you could have guessed from the title, but her new family Marlin and Nemo were in for the ride.

Another great thing the writer Andrew Stanton did was to take the funny out of point lines and song (Just Keep Swimming) that Dory said/sang in Finding Nemoto make a story set a year after the first movie signifying Dory remembering things from her past.

In this movie we don’t see Sharks or Mike the seagull, but remember the sea turtle Crush, the teacher Mr Ray, well they had cameos as this movie is filled with new characters.

For me a huge fan of Dory I worried what will happen to her in this movie, so I didn’t prep (no reading up for the movie or watching a preview) I went in with virgin eyes and was blown away, as Dory went searching for her family. On her journey she lost her new family, found them again and lost them.

I bit my nails as I watched Dory’s adventure kick start with dreams and flash backs of Dory as a child with her parents. As she goes looking for them she meets a new friend an octopus with seven legs which she called a septopus.

Finding Dory’s good box office start puts it well on its way to compete for the highest grossing animation so far this year, I don’t see Ice Age’s new addition to the list of animations this year (Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)) put up much of a fight.

Finding Dory has a herculean task ahead as Disney’s earlier release Zootopia (2016)has already grossed over a billion.

Now, you can guess from the way I have been going on that this movie is fun and awesome to see, so don’t delay to go to the cinemas with your children to go see this movie, I can guarantee you will be paying the movie a second visit.